PwC trains journalists at annual Capability Enhancement Workshop

To enhance the quality of news reportage ahead of the Nigerian general elections that will hold in February next year, PwC Nigeria has hosted journalists in the country in its annual Capability Enhancement Workshop.

The one-day workshop which was held virtually had participants drawn from both traditional and new media platforms. It featured insightful presentations on various topics by subject matter specialists with the aim of building the capacity of journalists and enhancing their ability to execute their duties effectively while also better positioning themselves to take advantage of future opportunities.

The annual workshop, which is now in its ninth year, with over 500 journalists benefitting from the training over the years, is a major component of PwC Nigeria’s Corporate Responsibility strategy. It was instituted in recognition of the very important role of the media in society and in particular, the role that the media in Nigeria has and continues to play in informing and educating the public.

“Our support for the media through this workshop and the media excellence award is in line with our purpose which is to build trust in society and solve important problems. It is a demonstration of our strong belief that to deepen democracy and ensure good governance, the media must perform its role optimally and professionally and this is reflected in the quality of reporting, in the capacity of individual journalists to carry out research and investigations, in the independence of editorial judgments, and in their ability to use technology as an enabler.” Said Taiwo Oyedele, Fiscal Policy Partner & Africa Tax Leader, PwC in his opening remarks at the session.

The presentations at the workshop included a session on “National Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy: Implications for the media” facilitated by Nkiru Aimienoho, Associate Director Cybersecurity, Privacy & Resilience, PwC Nigeria. This session provided a brief history of the national cyber strategies and policies and then delved into details of the National Cyber Security Policy & Strategy for Nigeria, highlighting the implications for the media. The session also highlighted the risk of cyber attacks in media and entertainment and used a number of real-life incidences to draw out key lessons.

Andrew S. Nevin, Partner & Chief Economist at PwC Nigeria facilitated a session on  “Nigeria’s National Development Plan 2021-2025: Lessons from the past and insights for the future”. The session provided a general overview of the current state of the Nigerian economy and reviewed past national development plans before going into a detailed analysis of Nigeria’s National Development Plan (2021-2025). It also used a case study of Vietnam to discuss some of the challenges and solutions to development planning in Nigeria.

The final session was on “Reporting Politics and the Economy: Critical questions and expectations for Nigeria’s next political leaders” and was facilitated by Taiwo Oyedele, Fiscal Policy Partner & Africa Tax Leader, PwC. This session which is very relevant for the time as campaigns commence for the 2023 general election, took the participants through the most critical issues for the country which should guide journalists in their coverage of the campaign, analysis of the candidates’ manifestos and reporting of the news during the election season.

 The capacity enhancement workshop precedes the award galanite for the announcement of winners of this year’s PwC Media Excellence Awards, which is scheduled to also hold virtually on Thursday 6 October 2022.